Overall,
this month's readings continue to suggest a moderate pace of
economic growth and more of the same for the first few months of
2007Lynn Franco, Director, Consumer Research Center, The
Conference Board

Consumer confidence edged down in
October. According to The Conference Board poll, the Index now
stands at 105.4 (1985=100), down slightly from 105.9 in
September.

The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative
sample of 5,000 U.S. households.

"Consumers' short-term expectations posted a slight improvement,
but the outlook for the labor market remains mixed. Overall,
this month's readings continue to suggest a moderate pace of
economic growth and more of the same for the first few months of
2007," said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board
Consumer Research Center.

Consumers claiming conditions are "bad" rose to 17.1 percent
from 15.6 percent. Those claiming conditions are "good,"
however, increased to 28.1 percent from 27.3 percent.

Labor market conditions were less positive than last month.
Consumers saying jobs are "plentiful" declined to 25.8 percent
from 26.2 percent. Those claiming jobs are "hard to get"
increased to 22.0 percent from 20.9 percent in September.

Consumers' short-term outlook was moderately more optimistic in
October than in September. Consumers expecting business
conditions to improve in the next six months increased to 18.5
percent from 16.5 percent. Those anticipating business
conditions to worsen decreased to 9.9 percent from 10.3 percent.

The outlook for the labor market, however, was mixed. Those
expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months
edged up to 15.2 percent from 14.7 percent, while those
anticipating fewer jobs also increased to 17.5 percent from 16.5
percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to
increase in the months ahead edged down to 19.6 percent from
20.2 percent in September.

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